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Tani Smart waits in the defensive backfield for the football to be snapped by Williams in September 2025
Photo: Josh McKee (https://www.mckeephotoarts.com/)
Tani Smart '28
10
Hamilton HAMILTON 1-6 , 1
17
Winner Colby COLBY 4-3 , 4
Hamilton HAMILTON
1-6 , 1
10
Final
17
Colby COLBY
4-3 , 4
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
HAMILTON Hamilton 0 7 3 0 10
COLBY Colby 7 7 0 3 17

Game Recap: Football | | Jim Taylor

Football comes up short in defensive struggle at Colby, 17-10

Hoag '27 set career highs with 12 catches for 115 yards for the Continentals

WATERVILLE, Maine – Colby College stopped the Hamilton College Continentals on fourth down in the red zone with less than a minute to go and the Mules held on for a 17-10 win at Colby's Harold Alfond Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 25.
 

Season Update

  • Hamilton (1-6 NESCAC) dropped its fourth straight.
  • The Mules (4-3) won for the third time in their last four contests.
 

How It Happened

  • Colby scored a touchdown on its first drive as the Mules went 71 yards in nine plays after the Continentals turned it over on downs. Jack Nye caught a 13-yard pass from Patrick Miller for the score with 5:25 left in the first quarter, and the extra point by Avi Gotshalk made it 7-0.
  • Hamilton drove to the Colby 10 on its next drive, but an offensive pass interference penalty and an interception by Cooper Bunnell ended the threat.
  • The Continentals' next drive ended with a punt that Henry Rubey '26 boomed 45 yards and drove Cormac Wright back to his own five-yard line. Wright tried to return it and was immediately hit by Tani Smart '28 and fumbled. Ian Redzepagic '28 recovered the ball on the Mules four and Hamilton was in business.
  • Set up with first-and-goal, the Continentals didn't waste any time. Quarterback Luke Kurzum '27 took the next snap from the shotgun and ran behind the left side of the offensive line into the end zone for a four-yard touchdown. Carmelo Velardo '27 added the PAT and pulled Hamilton into a 7-7 tie with 6:24 remaining in the second quarter.
  • Colby went in front for good on a 15-yard touchdown run by Antone Moreis with 1:53 to go in the half. A 41-yard run by Miller put the Mules in great position. Colby took a 14-7 lead into the locker room.
  • Each team could only muster a field goal in a second half that became a defensive struggle.
  • The Mules punted on their opening drive but it was downed on the Continentals' one-yard line. Hamilton was undeterred, driving 92 yards in 12 plays, and a Velardo field goal from 24 yards out cut Colby's advantage to 14-10 with 4:42 left in the third quarter.
  • The teams traded punts on the next five possessions, but the fifth one was muffed by the Continentals and recovered by the Mules' Subomi Soyoye at the Hamilton 30. Eventually that set up a 36-yard field goal by Gotshalk that restored Colby's seven-point cushion with 4:41 remaining in the fourth quarter.
  • The Continentals drove from their own 25 to the Mules 30 where Kurzum threw an incomplete pass on fourth down, but Colby was flagged for defensive pass interference at the goal line, and Hamilton was given an automatic first down at the 15. A sack, an eight-yard completion and two incomplete passes followed, and the Continentals turned the ball over on downs at the Mules 11 with 36 seconds to go.
 

Notes

  • Kurzum was 27-of-46 for 238 yards passing and added a team-high 41 yards on the ground with his second rushing touchdown in as many weeks. He's tied for the conference lead with 1,726 yards passing and is second with 153 completions.
  • Jack Hoag '27 set career highs with 12 catches for 115 yards.
  • Mitchell Ivatts '29, who entered the day with three receptions, had nine for 65 yards.
  • Hamilton's John Young '26 made a team-high eight tackles and is tied for 15th in the NESCAC with 44.
  • Smart's forced fumble was his first with the Continentals.
  • Three of Rubey's four punts landed inside the 20-yard line.
  • Velardo's field goal was his second this fall and the seventh of his Hamilton career.
  • The Continentals had 24 first downs and had the ball for almost 34 minutes.
  • Hamilton's defense allowed a season-low 242 yards of offense.
  • Miller was 12-of-19 for 78 yards passing and ran 15 times for 119 yards. Lincoln Merrill was credited with 11 tackles and one of Colby's three sacks. Dennis Dougherty chipped in 10 stops and a pass breakup, and Drew Ramos broke up three passes.
 

Next Game

The Continentals host Middlebury College (3-4) for Senior Day, Family Weekend and the 45th playing of the Old Rocking Chair Classic on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 12:30 p.m.
 
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